Connelly Retracts Statements About Witnesses

November 2, 1986|By Stephen Kindland of The Sentinel Staff

LEESBURG — City Commissioner David Connelly has retracted allegations he made last week that two witnesses who signed affidavits against fired police officer Trini Thomas are ''drug addicts and alcoholics.''

Connelly told a group of people attending a political candidate forum at the Leesburg Community Center Tuesday that the two men who claimed they saw Thomas poke his finger in the chest of an Okahumpka woman during a July 19 domestic dispute were unreliable.

After hearing about Connelly's comments, police Chief Jim Brown sent a memo Friday to City Manager Rex Taylor informing him of Connelly's allegations.

Brown views Connelly's statements as an attempt to discredit the witnesses. In his memo, Brown informed Taylor of Connelly's remarks and said background checks he conducted on the witnesses showed ''no information concerning drug violations.''

Brown said the ''characterization made by Commissioner Connelly raises an issue of witness credibility,'' and that Connelly should share such information with Taylor if it is true.

Brown also said he views the two witnesses as credible.

Connelly, who grew up in Okahumpka, said that despite taking back his comments, information given to police by the two witnesses may be ''distorted'' because the two men are ''heavy drinkers.''

''I can't prove that they're drug addicts, but I can certainly prove they're heavy drinkers -- from a personal account,'' he said. ''I've known them most of my life.''

Taylor, who is conducting a review of Thomas' firing on July 31 -- immediately after Thomas was arrested on charges of battery and improper use of a firearm -- says he doesn't plan to take any action.

''I'm not going to do anything about anything,'' Taylor said. ''I wasn't there.''

Taylor said he will complete a review of the Thomas case after he meets with Thomas sometime this week. ''I'm taking it one step at a time,'' Taylor said.

Connelly is not running for office, but was invited to speak by Commissioner Bob Lovell, who is seeking re-election to his District 4 at-large seat, at the end of Tuesday's forum.

Connelly recanted his characterization of the witnesses Friday.

Though Connelly admitted he ''may have been a little too bold'' in his description of the two men, he said he thinks Brown is ''pulling at straws'' to avoid the ''real issue'' of reinstating Thomas to his job.

''The real issue is we put that boy on trial, we lost and we're too bold to recognize our own mistake and say, 'Hey, we blew it -- let's put that boy back to work,' '' Connelly said.

Brown recommended Thomas be fired after his arrest because Thomas, a probationary employee at the time, should not have acted the way he did, Brown said.

State prosecutors have since dropped the charges because of the ''mysterious disappearance'' of the woman they described as their key witness. Connelly and state NAACP officials have been fighting to have Thomas reinstated on the police force.

Following Connelly's lead, the city commission indirectly ordered Taylor to reinstate Thomas without pay when the commission took a straw ballot in September.

Mayor Joe Knowles was the only one of five commissioners to vote against the reinstatement. He said he thought the firing was justified because Thomas was not denied due process, as claimed by Connelly and T.H. Poole, president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Taylor already had refused an earlier request to reinstate Thomas.

Knowles, who attended last week's forum, also said the firing was not in violation of the state ethics code for law enforcement officers.

He said Friday that Connelly ''ought to be required to support what he said'' about the witnesses.

''They're pretty serious charges in my mind,'' Knowles said. ''Connelly is trying to discredit the witnesses -- I don't see much sense in that.''